A bill sponsored by Democrat Bob Casey to freeze members of Congress and the President's pay in the event of a federal government shutdown passed the U.S. Senate unanimously on Tuesday evening.

Casey's co-sponsor, California Democrat Barbara Boxer, implored House Speaker John Boehner to now take up the measure in the House.

The idea behind the bill is that if Congress forces a shutdown by not agreeing on what levels to fund the government and federal workers lose their pay as a result, then lawmakers shouldn't be paid either.

The House passed a bill Tuesday to buy Congress an extra two weeks to debate spending cuts before the government would shut down. The Senate is expected to take it up over the next two days.

The stop-gap measure includes $4 billion in cuts over those two weeks, and Casey said in a brief phone interview that he's still reviewing them to see if he'll support it. But he said he likely will because it's important to avoid a shutdown.

"It may be that I’m not in full support of every cut outlined, but I also think the greater good is to avoid a shutdown and get to more intensive discussions about the rest of the fiscal year," Casey said.

Casey said the real fight will be when the Senate takes up the longer House-passed bill that include $61 billion in cuts. He said he's all for cuts, but their impact must be examined.

"While we’re cutting we have to keep growing," Casey said. "And secondly, we have to ask some fundamental questions about what cuts make sense in this environment." He said he'll be asking whether it makes sense to cut funding for a nutrition program for women and infants or medical research or law enforcement.